


Hi-jinks and Force Sensitive Children

by SerStolas



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Fluff, Mandalorian Spoilers, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22138174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Some years after the Battle of Jakku, Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso have settled quietly on an outer rim world, running a small outpost where their friends, and friends of friends, can find a bit of safety and down time.  She certainly didn't expect to spend the next half week babysitting while Cassian's old friend chased down leads.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Comments: 30
Kudos: 162





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Short fic based on a request from @castiellover77 on Tumblr. The reality of whether or not this could actually happen had Jyn and Cassian survived I'll leave up to you.

In the five years since the end of the Galactic Civil War, Jyn Andor had seen a lot of odd things in the galaxy. Six months after the end of the war, when she and Cassian had quietly married before the crew of Rogue One, officiated by Leia with Luke, Wedge, and Han as witnesses, she hadn't considered just how interesting their lives could get living on the Outer Rim. First they'd considered Maz Katana's offer of going to Takodana and settling there, but after a lifetime of war and fighting, both Jyn and Cassian wanted something a little quieter than that, quieter even than the peace offered on Yavin 4 with the Damerons.

With a little help from Han and their own contacts, Jyn and Cassian had found a small outpost where occasionally freight haulers stopped to refuel and take a rest, something relatively off the map of most people and a place that wouldn't attract a lot of unwanted attention. The Andors had settled there, along with Baze and Chirrut, first helping out the owner of the small place that passed for a Cantina, then taking it over completely a year ago when the older woman decided she wanted to retire. With her blessing and help from friends in finding the right supplies (and perhaps a small influx of credits from Bodhi to help fund things as well as the funds Jyn and Cassian had carefully saved up), they'd expanded it into a larger cantina. Slowly, friends of theirs from the Rebellion who had gotten into freight hauling after the war, or occasional passenger transport, started stopping at the outpost. 

Word spread slowly enough, through word of mouth from friends, and friends of friends, that they attracted a larger clientele. Cassian quietly screened those who came in, checking for any potential imps who might be looking for more than just a pit stop, but as long as someone they knew or had come to know vetted you, you were welcome. Bodhi took the occasional freight run, but he spent most of his time on planet with Jyn and Cassian, with his family, as he'd mentioned once to them.

Four years now their cantina had been established, staffed by Cassian, Jyn, and a few former Rebellion friends who'd decided to settle at the outpost. It gave Jyn peace of mind to know there were people behind the bar and patrolling as security when she and Cassian weren't at the cantina themselves.

The morning a Mandalorian walked in, Jyn was scrolling through a data pad behind the bar counter. They still received interesting bits of information that they sorted through and passed on to Han and Leia from time to time, and she'd been reviewing a particular line of information when she noticed the figure in, beskar? And what were they carrying in a small pouch strapped to their chest?

Years of training hid her surprise, but she watched them walk up to the counter, then, voice distorted by the helmet, they asked. "Cassian Andor here?"

She lifted a dark brow. "Cassian's at home, I'm his wife, Jyn. Need him for something?"

The Manadalorian nodded, and Jyn frowned slightly picked up her comm. "Cassian, a contact of yours is at the cantina, think you can swing by?"

"Description?" Cassian's voice came static-lacved through the comm.

"Beskar armor."

"Be right there," the tone in Cassian's voice told her it was important. She glanced up at the Mandalorian and nodded to a nearby stool. "If you want to wait, he'll be here in about ten minutes." She got a nod from the helmeted head and then she appeared to go back to reading through her data pad, though she was keeping an eye on the Mando. She'd only seen one once before in her life, at a distance, but she knew of their reputation, and a little bit about how their society was ruled by a Creed.

Cassian slipped in through the back door, coming up beside his wife behind the bar. His steady expression took in the Mandalorian and the satchel before saying, "Didn't think I'd ever see you out here."

"I knew it would be safer here," the Mando replied. "I need a favor." He glanced around the mostly empty cantina then towards the back. Cassian nodded in understanding and lead the Mando to the back office. Jyn felt curious, but she trusted Cassian and remained up front.

"Jyn, a moment?" Cassian called her back after several minutes. She gestured for an employee wiping the tables, an old rebellion trooper, to take over the bar and followed Cassian back. She cocked her head to one side when she found the Mando sitting on the office bench, holding a tiny baby...something, then turned a questioning gaze to Cassian.

"He needs somewhere safe for the kid to stay for a few days. It's force sensitive," Cassian said softly.

"Something tells me I'm not going to get much more of an explanation," she sighed, glancing towards the Mando. "How many days."

"Three, maybe four," the Mandalorian replied. "Former Imperials may still be after the child. The foundling was put in my care, but I need to go somewhere that might not be safe for the child in order to get the information I need."

The child stared up at Jyn with it's large, dark eyes, almost as if begging to be picked up and held. She frowned at the child, then after several moments said, "Alright, but just a few days." Everyone had always assumed she and Cassian would want kids when they settled down here, but neither of them were sold on the idea after their childhoods. Caring for someone else's child for a few days though..

The Mandalorian stood, regarding her for several moments behind that helmet, before he handed her the child. She found herself cradling the small green child to her chest, brows both arching when the child held out its hand, and the Mandalorian opened his palm, a small metal ball floating from him to the child before the child began to toy with it.

"This is going to be an interesting few days," Jyn remarked dryly.

"Always is," Cassian replied with a smile.


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian's first day with Baby Yoda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars.
> 
> find me on tumblr @serstolas

Jyn supposed she should be thankful the Child wasn't a human infant, or else she and Cassian would have been woken far earlier. Still, when she awoke to a set of large dark eyes set in a small green face staring at her an half an hour before her first alarm would normally get up, her hand automatically started for the knife she kept sheathed under the pillow before the events of the day before slithered into her tired mind and she recognized the Mandalorian's Child. They mewed at her, she wasn't sure how else to describe the sound, and she forced herself to relax as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Hungry, are you?" she asked the child.

They stared at her with those huge eyes and she got the sense that yes, they wanted breakfast.

She frowned intently. She knew the Child hadn't spoke, nor had she heard any voice in her mind like the one time Leia had projected to her, but she definitely got the sense of what the Child wanted.

"Okay then. Cassian's friend did tell us you were Force sensitive, come on then," Jyn replied, pulling on the first pair of pants she happened to find on her side of the bed and scooped the child up in one arm, stumbling barefoot towards the kitchen.

Cassian had been up late dealing with the cantina, so she thought to let him sleep a bit longer. 

She settled the Child at their small kitchen table and went about making hot grain cereal for the child, frowning a moment before adding a touch of sweetener to it and placed the bowl and a small spoon before the Child and set them up on a few pillows so they could reach the table. The Child regarded the cereal for a long moment, then delicately picked up the spoon in their tiny hand and began eating. Satisfied the child could feed themselves, Jyn turned to brew a pot of caf for herself and Cassian.

"Mando said you've eaten a live frog before, which I'm sure is healthy and all for you," Jyn told the Child, "But Cassian and I can feed you actual cooked meals, if you don't mind, though I suppose you can eat creatures you find if you get really hungry..."

Jyn and Cassian hadn't really planned on children any time soon, and her experience with human children was rather limited, and the experience she did have was with older children, so she found herself feeling vaguely lost in watching a child whose species she didn't even know, and appeared to be in some sort of toddler-hood.

She made herself cereal and sat down across from the child with caf and bowl, watching the Child with some curiosity as she began to eat. When the Child finished their bowl, they looked at her again with those large eyes, and she got the sense they wanted more. She started to get up to grab their bowl and paused with the bowl in her hand, hovering a bit over the table. "You are communicating somehow to me, aren't you?" she asked. "Not through spoken words, obviously, but you're reaching out, aren't you, with the Force, or something like that?"

She got the sense again that the Child was still hungry.

"Okay, no complicated questions before you're done with breakfast," Jyn said with faint amusement, refilling the Child's bowl.

By the time the Child and finished their second bowl, Cassian was wandering into the kitchen, absently pecking Jyn on the cheek before getting his caf and breakfast. He was a bit more awake than she was when he first got up, watching the Child and Jyn as Jyn took the empty bowls and carried them over to the sink. "They wake you up?" he asked.

"By staring at me beside the bed, yes," Jyn said as she washed the bowls. "I've gotten the sense from Them a few times that they were hungry. Your friend mentioned that they were Force sensitive, so I'm guessing that's an offshoot of that."

"Probably," Cassian replied, turning his head towards the child, who paused in chewing on the Mandalorian symbol around his neck to regard Cassian. "I don't know a lot about the Force, just what Luke and Leia have told us, and what Chirrut's said, but Chirrut wasn't a Jedi. Luke said Force Sensitive beings are capable of a lot of things we ordinary folk aren't." He smiled faintly at that and caught Jyn's gaze. Luke had told them briefly that Jyn possessed some Force sensitivity, but not enough to train as a Jedi. The skills she used were all her own, not Force based. The Force, Luke had told her, was more of a guide for her than something she could actively use.

"Better them than us," Jyn replied. "I'm just as glad to not be Jedi with the issues Luke has had with some of his students' parents." She glanced back at the Child. "Speaking of parents, etc, your friend left a few toys and a carrier for our little guest. What's our plan for them today?"

"Keep them in the back room or in the carrier in the main part of the cantina, if they're amiable," Cassian replied. "The office is big enough to given them some room to run around and play."

"Why don't you take the morning," Jyn suggested, "At the cantina, and I'll bring them this afternoon?" She tilted her head at the Child. "What do you think?"

The Child was getting bored and wanted their Loth Cat plush.

Cassian blinked and exchanged a look with Jyn. "Did you?" he asked.

She nodded, "That's how they told me about breakfast."

Cassian's lips twitched as he regarded the Child. "You're going to make the next few days a bit more exciting for Jyn and I, aren't you."

The Child was bored and wanted their toy. 

Jyn exchanged an amused glance with Cassian before she lifted the child down from the chair and lead them into the living room where their few toys the Mando had left where waiting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More adventures with the Child for Jyn and Cassian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Star Wars

Jyn hummed to herself as she wiped down the bar of the cantina, listening to the soft chatter of the freight haulers and the permanent residents of the settlement as they discussed the latest news in this particular corner of the universe. Their first day with the Child had been quiet with Jyn spending her morning cleaning up around their home while the Child played with their favorite toys and took a nap before lunch. Shortly after lunch she'd strapped the Child into a carrier on her chest and headed to the cantina, handing the curious Child over to Cassian who retreated to the back office while Jyn took over at the bar. Their second had followed the same pattern. Another day or two and the Child's Mandalorian guardian would return from whatever errand he'd gone off on, hopefully with the information he needed.

Iero, a former Rebellion soldier, had chosen to make the outpost her home a year or so after Jyn and Cassian had settled here, and she'd quickly been hired on as a cook based on the recommendation of another soldier that Jyn knew from the Pathfinders. Since a lot of the food they made came from either local supplies or what they happened to ship in, sometimes you had to get creative to cook something that would be appealing enough to the freighter pilots and travelers who came through the outpost, and the Twi'lek turned out to be one of the best hires Jyn and Cassian had made.

The Twi'lek dropped a plate at Jyn's elbow, eyeing the short human woman for a long minute before heading back to the kitchen area. "And I already made sure Cassian and your little guest had dinner, eat you."

Jyn knew better than to argue with that look or tone of voice and gave a nod of thanks before she began eating the sandwich that Iero had dropped off while still listening to the chatter in the cantina. It was getting late enough in the evening that Cassian would take the Child back home in another hour or so and see them to bed while Jyn served a few more customers before turing the bar over to their evening manager. Given the nature of their business, the cantina had to stay open later than either Jyn or Cassain could put in all of the hours for, but they'd made enough friends either in the Republic or through connections in their work that they were able to vet any of those who chose to settle down permanently in the outpost and applied for a job. Pretty much everyone they employed had been Republic or an ally at one point or another.

Jyn glanced briefly over her shoulder towards the office door, where she saw Cassian cradling the child to his shoulder with one arm and working on a ledger with the other. It was an absolutely adorable sight.

The child rested on Cassian's shoulder, eyes half lidded as they appeared to drift off to sleep. One thing Cassian's Mandalorian friend mentioned before leaving was the child was older than any of them, but evidently in terms of whatever race the child was, they were still closer to toddler age than anything else. Their loth cat plush, sitting on the desk near Cassian's elbow, and the necklace of the Mandalorian symbol were their two favorite belongings from what Jyn could tell.

Words drifted to her ears as she cleaned with one hand and ate with her other. 

"Said there were rumors of white helmets and armor on some of the Mid-Rim planets," a murmured caught her attention, and Jyn's gaze jerked in that direction. She took a last bite of her sandwich before she began cleaning in that direction, wiping down the bar and then coming out from behind the bar to wipe down tables, moving methodically until she'd reached the table not too far from the freight hauler she'd heard the rumor from. Her mind quickly supplied the name, Zisk Furem, a Bothan and former Rebellion pilot. She pitched her voice low as she cleaned the table next to him.

"White helmets, you say?"

Zisk's movements were casual, just a slight tilt of his head as he swirled the tumbler of alcohol in his hand. "That's what the rumors say. You hear more rumors in the outer rim, but evidently some of them are getting bold, don't believe that certain forces can hold them out of the Mid Rim. Might be something you want to keep an eye out for."

Jyn met Zisk's gaze as she finished wiping the table and nodded. "Noted," she replied softly, then a little louder. "Seems you need another refill, my friend, let me help with that." She took his tumbler and headed back towards the bar, moving quickly through the motions of refilling the glass and bringing it back.

"My thanks, Andor," he told her when she brought the tumbler back. "I'll be around a few days, ship needs a couple minor repairs, if you happen to need anything."

"Thank you, Furem," she replied. "Maybe you should come over for a late dinner tomorrow evening, it's been forever since we've been able to catch up."

"I'll see you then," Zisk replied, knowing that Jyn would want to get back to Cassian and tell him about the rumors.

Jyn slipped into the office and leaned over Cassian's shoulder to brush a kiss against his cheek as he finished adding up another line in the ledger. "Seems there's rumors of white helmets on some nearby planets in the Mid Rim," Jyn's voice said warm against his ear.

Cassian's eyes flickered to the now sleeping Child on his shoulder and he turned his head to meet his wife's eyes. "I see. I'd hope we're out of the way enough, but if someone's looking for something and they really want it..."

"Zisk said he was staying on planet a few days," she mentioned.

"May also not be a bad idea to have two of our old friends help out," Cassian mused. "Baze and Chirrut certainly like children. They're fairly popular with the kids in the outpost."

"So they are," Jyn agreed. She let her hand slide against her thigh, feeling the comforting weight of the knife she had strapped there. "We might still want to set an extra warning on the security system at home tonight. We need sleep, but I'd feel better knowing things were being monitored."

"Mmm, maybe see if our friends can't watch the child for a few hours while we work tomorrow as well," Cassian suggested. His eyes took in the green, sleeping child on his shoulder. "Made a promise."

"And we don't break our promises," Jyn replied with a smile.

"No, my love, we don't," Cassian agreed, turning his head to catch her lips briefly in a kiss. "Time to head home soon?"

"Aye," Jyn replied. "Give me another quarter hour to clean up a bit out front and our staff can handle the cantina for the rest of the night."

Cassian squeezed her hand lightly before he watched her head back out front, and adjusted the child on his shoulder. "We'll keep you safe, little one," he promised.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian deal with some unwanted visitors, and the Mandalorian returns for his foundling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not known Star Wars
> 
> Added Clarification: Jarren is the name that Cassian knows Din Djarin by. 
> 
> Random thought - oi its hard to remember to capitalize "Child" every time.

Jyn and Cassian had known it was coming, they'd had friends staying at their home with them and their current charge as a precaution. So many years spent in the Rebellion, fighting the Empire and expecting less than fair techniques and treatment, neither of them were surprised when a communicator in the kitchen buzzed to life with the voice of one of the other settlement inhabitants, advising a small troop transport had arrived.

Jyn downed a last sip of coffee and nodded to Cassian as she slipped a pistol out of the normally locked drawer in the kitchen. Cassian tested the draw on his own as Jyn moved back towards their bedroom where their charge currently slept and slid on the child carrier and settled the sleeping Child inside. Green ears twitched and dark eyes fluttered open to look up at her as she gave the Child a crooked smile. "We're going to head somewhere safe for now," she reassured him. She heard Cassian moving in the front room and briefly caught a glimpse of him as she entered the hallway. He gave her a decisive nod and Jyn slipped out their back door into the thick treeline beyond. 

Far unlike the first time that Jyn had left home to hide as a child, she moved confidently through the trees, knowing that even if the Storm Troopers did make it to the house to ask questions, the forest would slow them down. They didn't know about the booby traps that she and other Rebels had set up in the forest, on the off chance unfriendly former Imperials might show up and someone needed to hide out. She also knew that Cassian by now would have hidden any sign of the Child ever having been in their house. 

She moved quietly perhaps about half a kilometer, moving along a dip in the ground, difference in land height easily concealed by the undergrowth of the forest. Her eyes narrowed as she searched for what she was looking for, and then carefully began to lift the hidden door to the small bunker. Before she could lift it completely, it pushed aside to reveal Baze. The big man nodded to her and the sleepy child before moving out of the way so that Jyn could descent the ladder, and Baze closed the door back up.

"News moves fast among allies," Chirrut said in the semi-darkness as she moved sure footed towards the back of the bunker and took a seat on a rough bench. "When we heard the warning of the transport landing, we thought we would get here before you and prepare. His face turned unerringly towards the small Child in the child carrier Jyn wore strapped to her chest. Large dark eyes stared at the blind man, and Jyn saw Chirrut cock his head slightly and then smile.

"Yes, young one," Chirrut told the Child in a low voice. "You are safe here, and we will protect you until the Mandalorian returns. The White Helmets will not get you."

"White Helmets?" she asked both the Child and Chirrut as she settled more comfortable on the bench. She accepted a small biscuit from Baze and handed it to the Child to chew on, know the Child would be getting hungry for breakfast around this time, and none of them wanted a hungry, cranky toddler on their hands. "I suppose that is as good a name for them as any," she told the Child. "What they want you for, I don't know, and I'm not entirely certain I want to. I just know you must be kept safe and out of their hands. I don't trust what they would do to you."

The child looked at her with their big dark eyes and she got a sense of agreement and that the child felt comfortable where they were right now.

She waited in the low light of the bunker, watching Chirrut and Baze as they sat next to each other on the bench across from her. Jyn was no stranger to waiting, not in her years with Saw Gererra or her years with the Rebellion. She thought the Storm Troopers cocky, landing on this planet. They were out of the way, but it was still technically Republic space, a small outpost where old Rebellion troops landed to have a drink and refuel. 

The Child ate the biscuit and looked at her with their big eyes, asking for another. She quirked a smile as they waited and glanced at Baze, who gave a shake of his great shaggy head and passed her one. She handed the child the second biscuit, listening quietly to the sounds outside of the bunker, nodding when she heard nothing. They'd had a few days warning before the white helmets landed, and she'd noticed a few more of their regulars had popped in for a visit over the past two days. Whatever the Storm Troopers would meet with, it would not be a warm welcome.

She watched the child gnawing on the necklace the Mando had left with them, patient in the dark with Baze and Chirrut, letting herself mediate the way that Chirrut had showed her years before.

Finally a soft crackle came through on her communicator. No words, just a pre-determined sound that she and Cassian had set up years before. She moved quietly towards the entrance of the bunker and looked up, waiting another few minutes before the cover moved, and Cassian peered down at her, a faint smile on his lips. 

~~~ ~~~

The Storm Troopers had indeed met an unfriendly group when they landed near the outpost, and somehow self preservation eventually drove them off planet, with a reminder that this was Republic space, not that everyone here believed the Republic would take an attack on a small outpost seriously, but some of the inhabitants did have friends in high places. 

Jyn and Cassian sat on their couch late that evening, the soft glow of an old holovid playing while the child slept sprawled across Cassian's lap. "I advised Jarren," Cassian said quietly. "He'd planned to be back in another day anyway, and he thinks he's found another trail to follow to help the Child get back to their people."

"Was he unhappy?" Jyn asked, tilting her head up slightly.

Cassian gave a shake of his head. "He was unsurprised, actually. He says one reason he left the Child with us to begin with was he knew they would be safe here, at least for a few days." 

Jyn smiled as she regarded the sprawled and sleeping child, clutching at a small stuffed animal that Cassian had dug out from somewhere. "Well, let him know they are welcome back at any time. We might not see them again, but we should at least extend the invitation." She leaned back against his shoulder, letting herself relax completely against her husband. "It almost makes me want one of my own, though I don't know that I'd want a human baby."

"There are still plenty of orphans, left over from the war," Cassian mused softly.

"Something to look into," Jyn agreed. 

It was in the early hours of the morning when the Mandalorian arrived the following day, coming to the Andor house as Cassian prepared breakfast for his wife and their charge that morning. Jyn wandered into the living room when she heard the door open and the sounds of armored footsteps coming in. She knew by the familiar sounds of Cassian's own movements it was a friend. The Child twisted in her arms as she carried them to the living room, and their whole expression lit up when they saw the familiar sight of the Beskar Mandalorian helmet, and the mudhorn symbol on the Mando's armor. 

"Thank you," Jarren told the Andors as he accepted the happy and wiggling Child from Jyn, affection in his voice as he held the Child and lifted the Mandalorian symbol the Child still wore around their neck.

"Any time," Jyn replied. "You two are always welcome here. And if we don't see you again, may the Force guide you."

"Or instinct," Jarren replied. It took no more than a few minutes for them to pack everything up, and they both knew that Jarren felt some need to leave quickly. Cassian presented him with a container of food to take with him for Jarren and the Child.

"Be careful my friend, and safe," Cassian said, clasping Jarren's arm.

"You as well," Jarren replied, clasping Cassian's arm, and then Jyn's.

They watched him go from the doorway, then looked up at each other. The Andors knew they might not see Cassian's old friend again, but at least for this one time, they'd been able to help. As the Mando's ship lifted off and disappeared into the atmosphere, Jyn leaned back against Cassian, and thought for now, at least, the future was bright.


End file.
